123 Years Ago
I often find the Transcript advertisements more interesting than the news–particularly since, after so many years of writing daily history articles, I have written about many of these businesses. I often know where they were located and what years they were in business.
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Wade Clothing (1882-1906) was located in the Opera House block–about where the Ace Hi Tavern is now. Brown’s (1888-1919) was in the space now occupied by Del’s Tonsorial. Broad’s (1887-1930) was in the Everett block–now Goozell Yogurt. Baby Doe's now occupies the spot formerly holding the Big Red Boot.
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Supermarkets didn’t evolve until after World War II. In 1902 (pre-automobile), people walked to the grocery store or had their food delivered. While there were several grocery stores downtown, most neighborhoods also had one or more small groceries.
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I was interested to find so many railroad advertisements. Tourism was really taking off as an industry during this period. There was a big national campaign, funded by the railroads, telling people to See America First! It was designed to persuade people to vacation in this country rather than going to Europe. If the railroads were placing such large ads in a small paper like the Transcript, they must have been spending a fortune on advertising all over the country!